Improvement in railway car-brakes



UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

WILLIAM F. IEI. SMITH, OF MILWAUKEE, -WISCONSIN IMPROVEMENT IN RAILWAYCAR-BRAKES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 121,013, dated November14,1871.

To all whom 'it may concern:

Beit known that I, WILLIAM F. H. Slvufrmof Milwaukee, in the county ofMilwaukee and State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Gar-Brakes; andI do hereby declare the following to be afull, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to theaccompanying drawing and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

The nature of my invention consists in the construction and arrangementof a car-brake, as will be hereinafter more fully set forth.

In order to enable others skilled in the art to which my inventionappertains to make and use the same, I will now proceed to describe itsconstruction and operation, referring to the annexed drawing which formsa part of this specication, and in which- Figure l is a perspective viewof a car-truck with my brake attached. Fig. 2 is an enlarged side viewof one car-wheel with mybrake apl plied in the ordinary way as afriction-brake.

Fig. 3 is a similar view, showing my brake as applied whenever a suddenstoppage is desired. Fig. 4 is a front view of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a sideview of the brake-block. Fig. 6 is a section through linew y, Fig. 5.Fig. 7 is a cross-section of the eccentric, ring, and cross-head, whichoperate the brake-block. Fig. 8 is a bottom view of one end of thetruck, and Fig. 9 is an end view of Fig. 8.

b b represent the wheels, arranged in the usual manner on a car-truck.On the truck, in suitable journaLboXes, are arranged four shafts, zz,(marked in rotation I, II, III, and IV,) in such a manner that one shaftwill be above and on each side of each set of wheels, as shown inFig. 1. Oneach of these shafts are attached ecoentrics d d, eachsurrounded by a ring, p, from which shackles c c connect withbrake-blocks a, a. These brake-blocks are, on their inner sides,provided with a groove or depression, s, and 011 the under side with aflange, t, as shown in Fig. 6.

The brake-blocks a a are to be operated in the usual manner and by theordinary means as friction-brakes, except when for any cause it isdesired to suddenly stop the train. In this case the engine will, bymeans that will be hereinaf ter described, turn all the shafts z, whichare in front of their respective wheels, far enough to cause theeccentrics d d to lower the brake-blocks onto the rails in front of thewheels. The brakeblock then acts as a trig, raising the wheel from therails, instantly stopping its rolling, and forming a shoe to the wheel.The flange of the wheel then rests in the groove s on the inside of theblock, and the flange t on the under side of the block drops on theinside of the rails, forming a safeguard to keep the train on the track.

The means for lowering the brake-blocks are as follows: The shafts z zare provided with doublegrooved wheels E E, each wheel consisting of onelarger and one smaller disk, with circumferential groove. These wheelsare arranged as shown in Fig. l, and are provided with hooks on oppositesides for the attachment of chains connecting alternate shafts. All ofthe shafts in ont of the wheels are thus connected with a continuouschain, which is carried forward so as to be readily operated by theengineer. The shafts now in rear of the wheels are not con nected, butwill be when the cars move in the opposite direction. The shafts z z arefurther provided at each end with a ratchet-wheel, f, and pawl h, so asto hold the shafts in proper position when not turned to lower thebrake-blocks.

The brake-blocks a al on each side of the wheels are connected by twobars, A A, the ends of which are attached together to the brake-blocks,and their centers separated by a short cross-bar, making them farstronger; in fact, one acts as a brace to the other, and they keep thebrakeblocks steady in their proper places. From the truck-frame dependsprings B B, which act upon the bars A A to throw the brake-blocks awayfrom the wheels. To the inner bar A, on one side of each pair of wheels,is pivoted a lever C, the lower end of which is connected by a chain, D,with the inner bar A on the other side of the wheels. The upper end ofthe lever C is, by a chain or other suitable means, connected with theusual device for applying car-brakes from the platform of the car.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination of the shaft z, eccentrics d, rings p, shackles c,brake blocks a having grooves s and anges t, the conneeting-barsA, thebrake-blocks are suspended, the ratchetsprings B, lever C, and chain D,all constructed Wheels' fj' and pawls h 11., substantially as and andarranged so that the brake-blocks may be for the purposes herein setforth. used as ordinary friction-brakes, or may be 10W.. Milwaukee,April 12, 1871. ered in front 0f the Wheels to raise them up fromWitnesses: WILLIAM F. H. SMITH. the rails, substantially as herein setfprth. E JOSEPH F. MCMULLEN,

2. In combination with a shaft, z, from which RICHARD BIRKHOLZ. (122)

